This past weekend, the Blue Oval welcomed exceptional athletes from all over the state of Iowa and all across the country. Taking part in the 113th annual Drake Relays, which took place from last Thursday to this past Saturday at Drake Stadium in Des Moines, were several student-athletes from Hamilton County.

Of the bunch, Webster City junior Jaxon Cherry got to exhibit the strength he was known for.

Cherry led the way for the Lynx at Drake, netting a 10th place finish in the discus throw with a distance of 158 feet, four inches on Friday. Cherry also captured a 20th place finish in the shot put last Thursday, tossing the silver sphere for a distance of 49 feet, nine inches.

The Webster City boys’ 4×100-meter relay team — made up of sophomore Jayden Weinzetl, senior CJ Hisler, junior Keegan Hisler and Cherry — landed 44th overall with a time of 44.39 seconds. Racing in the seventh heat this past Saturday, the Lynx settled for fifth within the eight-team allotment.

The South Hamilton girls’ 4×100-meter relay quartet — composed of junior Tanna Thompson, sophomore Sydnee Flaugh, junior Ashlyn Erickson and senior Kate Barkema — took 91st overall in the race with a time of 52.93 seconds. The Hawks were sixth within Heat 2, which took place this past Saturday morning.

Also of note, Webster City native and current Utah women’s track and field coach Kyle Kepler got to collect some hardware before departing back to Salt Lake City. The Utes earned the title of HyVee Cup Women’s University Champions with 36 points, besting Minnesota, North Dakota State, Illinois State and Northern Iowa for the Drake Relays’ team title.

A feature story on Kepler’s program and Utah’s success will be in an upcoming edition of the Daily Freeman-Journal.